Means for feeding boxes or their cases to nesting or labeling machines



A. F. NEY

MEANS FOR FEEDING BOXES OR THEIR CASES T0 NESTING 0R LABELING MACHINES Filed June 18, 1923 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Jan. 13. 1925. 1,523,275

A. F. NEY MEANS FOR FEEDING BOXES OR THEIR CASES T0 NESTING OR LABELING MACHINES Filed June 1s, 1923 2 sheets-sheet 2 with an inner.

Patented Jan. 13, W25.

UNETED STATES FATENT QQFWQE.

ANDREW FRANCIS NEY, OF EAST KEYV, VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA, ASSIGNOR TO BRYANT AND MAY PROPRIETARY LIMITED, OF RICHMOND, VICTORIA, AUS- TRALIA.

MEANS FOR FEEDING BOXES OR THEIR CASES TO INESTING OR. LABELING MACHINES.

Application filed June 18,

To'aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that i NDREW FRANCIS Nnr, a subject of the King of Great Britain, residing at Glenelg, Edward Street, East Kew, 1n the State of Victoria, Commonwealth of Australia, has invented. Improved Means for Feeding Boxes or Their Cases to Nesting or Labeling Machines, of which the following 1s a specification. I

This invention refers to box-closing or nesting machines with or without labeling mechanism or to box labeling machines, the former machines being used for inserting the receptacle or inner member of rectangular boxes into the open endedcase or outer and having usually means for labeling the box members when nested, such ma chines being employedfor instance in dealing with rectangular boxes for wooden matches; l

According to the nesting machines in use, the outers of the box are projected intermittingly-forward in succession from the bottom of a comparatively high manuallysupplied vertical magazine or hopper by means of a-horizontal plun er and the inners of the box are advance along a feed way at right angles to the travel of. the outers and each in turn is inserted by means of a plunger in an outer while the latter is momentarily. stationary and in registration If the machine has box labeling mechanism combined therewith, the nested boxes advance through said mechanism and are finally ejected.

Similarly in regard to match or other small box labeling machines the nested. boxes or merely the outers thereof to be labeled are first hand fed into a comparatively high magazine and. thelowermost one projected to. the labeling. mechanism by means of a plunger.

ln order to ensureicorrect alignment of the box or outers with the horizontal plunger the interior of thevertical hopper must be a neat fit for the boxes consequently in order to ensure a constant downward feed and ensure the forward projection of the lowermost box or outer at each stroke of the horizontal plunger it .is essential on. account of the lightness of the boxes or outers to provide a 1923. Serial No. 646,067.

comparatively high hopper so that it may contain a large stack and ensure weight that will to a certain extent minimize jamming of the boxes or outers in the hopper.

Even with such a high hopper it is found essential for the operator in feeding boxes or outers into the hopper to exert a downward pressure on the stack.

On account of the feeding means referred to it is necessary for the operator to lift one hand to a fair height many thousands of times in a days work and simultaneously exert a downward hand pressure while moreover the operator is obliged to stand in order tofeed the boxes or cases into the top of the hopper. As a result it is found that the work of the operator involves considerable fatigue and the object of this invention is to obviate this disability under which the operator labors, and for this purpose the invention provides improved feeding means for the cases or boxes that will obviate high arm lifting and downward pressure of the hand and permit the operator being seated if desired. 7

The invention is shown practically applied by the acco-mpanying drawings of a box nesting and labeling machine.

In these drawings,

Fig. 1 is a plan (broken).

'Fig. 2 a vertical sectional elevation on line II-II of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 a vertical section on line IIl:IllI of Fig. 1.

Figs. 4 and 5 are sectional detail views on lines IVIV and V-V in Figs. 1 and 2 respectively.

Referring to the drawings, the outers of the boxes are designated 1 and the inners 2. The inners are advanced in a guide-way 3 by a belt 4 and are drawn in front of a plunger 5 by a reciprocating hook-ended arm 51 which plunger acting intermittently pushes each inner 2 in turn into an outer 1 after which the complete box B is fed along a guide-way to the well known labeling mechanism L.

According to this invention the outers 1 are delivered from a large hopper with an inclined chute for instance (not illustrated) upon-an endless horizontal conveyor 6 which is preferably a flat belt travelling at right angles to the direction of the boxes B and supported in a channel section guide-way 7 and passing around rollers 8, 9, said belt passing through a slot 47 in the bottom of said guide way.

Motion is imparted to the spindle 10 of roller 8 by means of a belt 11 passing around a grooved pulley on spindle 10 and other pulleys 12, 13 and 14 the pulley 14 being rotated bythe gear 15 of the machine.

The conveyor does, not extend the full length of the guide-way 7 but stops a short distance from the advance end and a weighty roller 16. with a peripheral grippingband 17 of rubber or the like is mounted on arms 18 pivoted as at 19 to the sides of the guideway 7 and adapted to restpreferably upon the second outer on the coveyor belt 6 at thdpulley end 9. v

The outers are pressed down upon the bot tom of the last portion 19 of the guide-way beyond the conveyor by means of a fiat spring hold down plate 20 fixed to the guideway and which may be curved upwardly at its entrance end to form a mouth and the outers are kept in line by means of a flat spring 43 in the guide-way.

The guide-way 7 is preferably about the height of six boxes or outers from the base plate 21 of the machine but could be lower and in any caseis ata convenient height for loading the conveyor without necessitating the operator raising the hands to any extent;

At the advance or delivery end of the guide-way is a-low vertical hopper 22 of V rectangular cross section andslightly higher than the guideway so as to hold about seven boxesor outers and itsside adjacent the guideway is formed with an inlet 23 into which the most advanced box or outer there of is delivered by the action of the conveyor 6. I V

In the upper end of the hopper is a vertically reciprocated plunger 24 which, when in its lowermost position closes said inlet 23 so that the advanced outer abuts against said plunger till the latter rises and permits the outer to enter the inlet. I

During the temporary stoppage of the line of outers the conveyor belt slips past under the outers but the frictional pressure ojfthe weighty roller on one of the outers ensures'that the outers on the end portion 1 9 of the guideway will" advance when the plunger24 islraised again.

'The plunger. 24 (Fig. 2) is fixed to an arm'25 guided in a slot 26 formed in one side of.'the hopper and in a guide '41 projected from the hopper and saidarm'is normally urged downwardly by a spring 27 and is fixed to a vertical rod 28 The latter is pivotedtoan arm 29 by means of a pin 3O1e11ga'ging a slot 31 in said arm which is pivoted as at .32 to the undersideof the base plate. Said arm has an oii'set 33 carrying a in the outlet 38 by means of a rod 44 on the underside of the plunger provided with a roller 45 engaging a cam race 46 on the shat't42. I I V i r 1 In operation the inners are deliveredto belt 4 and the outers ,to the conveyor 6 which delivers them into the upper end of the short vertical hopper 22. V 1

In the position of the mechanism asillustrated, .an outer'hasjust entered the upper end of the hopper while the plunger 24 is temporarily held in raisedposition by-the cam 36 and the plunger 39 is drawn back after having pushed the 'lo wermost router forward. When the cam rotates about three quarters of a revolutlon ts recess 37 causes the vertical plunger to quickly descend and rise again thus depressing all the outersin the hopper compactly inthelatter with the lowermost one opposite the horizontal plunger which on advancing ejects the lowermost outer into the guideway 50 in which it advances to receive an inner projected by the plunger 5.: The boxes jthen adyanoe along the guide-way 50 to the] labeling mechanism L, if such iscombined with'the machine i It will be understood that the feeding mechanism is equally applicable to a labeling machine the only difl'erence being that boxes, i. e. nested outers and inners, are delivered to the short"verticalhopper 22 and fed to the labeling mechanism.

Having now fully described and. ascertained my said invention andthe manner'in which 1t 1s to beperformed, I declare that what I claim is':

1. In a machine of the cha acter described, 2 i

a comparatively short vertical hopper with an inlet 1n one side and near-the top, an endless horizontal conveyor belt continuously travelling in a guideway and, passing througli a slot formed therein, a weighty guideway, a hold "down spring; platein the outlet in the bottom of said hopper. i 2. In a machine of the character described,

a comparatively short vertical hopperwith an inlet inione' side and near,- the to'p,,a n endless hor zontal conveyor belt; c'ontmu:

ously travelling in a guideway and passing roller mounted on s pivoted. arms in "said V v through a slot formed therein a weighty roller mounted on pivoted arms in said guideWay, a hold down spring plate in the guideway in advance of said roller, a vertically operated plunger in the upper end of said hopper mounted on a guided arm fixed to a spring controlled vertical rod connected with a pivoted arm carrying a roller supported on a cam, and a horizontal ejector plunger operating in an outlet in the bottom 10 of said hopper.

Dated this 3rd day of May 1923.

ANDREl/V FRANCIS NEY. 

